Slow Cooker Barbecue Meatloaf

Oh hey, did somebody say slow cooker meatloaf? Yes, this low carb BBQ meatloaf recipes is made in your crockpot and is so tender and juicy, you will never make it any other way again!

I recently had a plea from a reader to add more dinner recipes to All Day I Dream About Food. I do actually have quite a number of main dish recipes, but there’s no question that the sweets and baked goods outweigh those options. Judging from the high sweet ratio, you might think that my family was mostly fed muffins, cakes and cookies for every meal. While I admit to having resorted to ice cream for dinner for myself on rare occasions, we really do eat proper meals the vast majority of the time. And I can sometimes be as creative a cook as I am a baker. So why not get photos of all those tasty meals and throw them up here for you good folks to peruse? Because like any mother trying to get dinner on the table, it’s usually 6pm, it’s getting dark out and I am frantically cooking while also fielding the demands of three hungry and attention-seeking kids. Ain’t no time for food styling and pretty photos with all that chaos. My family of five is a hungry lot and they’re not going to let me hold up dinner for something as silly as taking pictures.

Still, I love to bring you low carb recipes of all kinds and dinner certainly deserves its due. And I actually have a great number of meals where I’ve struck out on my own and created something so tasty that I know I need to put it on the blog. I find myself making notes after dinner, knowing I will have to make the recipe in the middle of the day at some point so I can get some appetizing photos. Thankfully my children don’t seem to mind their food warmed up at the end of the day. And the reality is that when I do this, I find myself so much more relaxed when dinner time rolls around. All I have to do is turn on the stove or oven to rewarm the food. Really, I should make a habit of cooking dinner in the middle of the day and rewarming it; it would certainly reduce the stress of the evenings!

This recipe is actually perfect for creating stress-free evenings, as long as you have a good slow cooker or crock pot. You may have to do a little advance prep work if you plan on using my Homemade Sugar-Free BBQ Sauce. But you can make a big batch when you have extra time (feel free to skip the whiskey if that’s not your thing), and it freezes really well. Or you can purchase a commercial sugar-free barbecue sauce such as Nature’s Hollow (xylitol-sweetened). Then all you have to do is mix and shape the meatloaf and set your slow cooker to low for 6 hours. Even if you’re at work all day and your crock pot turns itself off, you can gently rewarm when you get home. And you will end up with just about the moistest meatloaf you could ever hope for, with very little fuss or muss. It’s a winner, my friends. You can thank me later.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, onion, almond flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add in eggs and mix well with your hands until fully combined.

On a large sheet of tinfoil, shape mixture into loaf roughly 5 x 9 inches. Lift foil by edges and place in a 6 quart slow cooker.

Set slow cooker to low and cook 5 to 6 hours. In the last half hour of cooking, brush the top and sides with about 1/3 cup barbecue sauce.

Use two serving forks to lift the meatloaf out of the slow cooker and onto a serving platter. Slice and serve with remaining barbecue sauce.

***Cooking tip: if you can't use lean ground beef and pork, make sure to put a rack or some balled up tinfoil in the bottom of your slow cooker. Otherwise, your meatloaf will be swimming in grease by the end of cooking.

Recipe Notes

Serves 10. Each serving has 4.95 g of carbs and 1.46 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 3.51 g*

Nutritional Disclaimer

Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program.I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them.I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.

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Comments

Sounds good and will absolutely put it on my menu – one thing inexperienced cooks might not be aware of is that I assume you’ll need to use very low-fat 90/10 ground beef (or else elevate the loaf somehow in the slow cooker – either on a rack or some balled up aluminum foil) – otherwise it’s going to be swimming in grease.

In my house, prepared food ready to warm up is like money in the bank. I am going to make your BBQ sauce without the whiskey…do you have the nutritional analysis for the sauce alone? I expect that the carbs from the alcohol won’t change the count much, would it? Many thanks for these recipes. They will be valued both for dinner and next day for sandwiches!

I think many of your readers are like me, we have been able to make lower carb main entrees and side dishes, but are stumped by dessert. That is why I keep coming back, you have such great ideas for desserts! That is not to say your entree and side dishes are not appreciated but keep the sweets coming, please!

Just remove “LEAN” meat. make sure the fat ration is at least 20% saturated fat!!!! You will be blown away with the taste and how the meat melt in the mount. And it do not raise blood sugar. And thx for the receipt.

In regards to the crockpot BBQ meatloaf recipe. What could I use as a substitute for the almond flour? My son and I both have allergies to almonds (actually most nuts). Could I possibly use something like flaxseed meal or possibly coconut flour?

This might sound like a silly question, but when you use the foil to lower the loaf into the crock pot, do you leave it in there? Thanks for all the great recipes, sweet and otherwise they are always great!

Had this for dinner tonight and it was PERFECT! I did not have ground pork so I used half of a roll of sausage (with no MSG or sugar!) Everything else I left alone! We will make this again and again! Thank you! Your BBQ sauce is a keeper, too… no alcohol added but it was still great!

Eileen – you could also use crushed pork rinds with a little grated parmesan and seasonings as a breading instead of the almond flour. I also season my meat with a little BBQ sauce while mixing, salt, pepper, seasonings of choice, gives a nice flavor. You could do “italian style” with a bit of tomato sauce and italian seasonings, with some tomato sauce on top and melt a little mozzarella on top at the end, or do the BBQ and melt some cheddar on it.

Hi Carolyn, love the meatloaf recipe, but I have a question, Is the carbs too high, I love the fact that there is no sugar (being diabetic), this is exactly what I need. Also the flour would flaxseed be okay for a sub?

I tried to find the post on Facebook so I could comment but I can’t locate it. I just wanted to let you know that I made this tonight and it was delicious! Such a great way to make meatloaf, especially in the summer. Thank you for the recipe!

The BBQ sauce is a keeper. I thought the meatloaf could have been more moist. I have read the comments. Adding the sauce to the meat I’m sure would help. We used a high fat ground beef. We kept removing the grease from the cooker. Maybe we should have left it in the pot?

I’d like to make your low-carb barbecue sauce, but I don’t have any chipotle powder. Do you think the recipe will turn out if I sub in a canned chipotle pepper or two? I’ve never used ground chipotle, so I don’t know how the ground/canned versions compare taste/texture-wise. Thanks for your help.

Okay, here’s an update for anyone who might want to know this – I made the sauce with two very small canned chipotle peppers (they were about 1×1.5 inches) instead of the chipotle powder. I added them when I pureed the tomato mixture in the food processor and followed the rest of the recipe as written. The sauce turned out good, but was spicier than I expected for only adding those two little chipotles, lol. I may adjust that next time I make it, but overall the sweetness and other flavors of the bbq sauce were just right.

I substitute cooked quinoa with ancient grains for the almond flour. I have also added small amounts of very finely chopped green pepper. Lastly, some chopped mushrooms are nice in this. I cooked them in the oven in muffin pans (pregreased). They are then in small servings that freeze well. I call them meat muffins.

Is there a reason you use ground beef and pork? The reason I ask, is that I’ve just received a great deal of ground moose meat, and I’d love to try it out in this recipe, but I don’t know what kind of changes that could cause. Since moose is pretty low fat, would I need to add anything for moisture, like the people who are attempting to use ground turkey? And by the way, I just adore using my crockpot any time that I can, so this recipe is amazing! I can’t wait to try it out and see how the moose does.

This sounds like a great recipe! I want to know if I can make this as a freezer crock pot recipe? REALLY interested in those to make ahead low carb. Not much out there – need more like this. Don’t want to do all the cook ahead stuff. Thanks

This meatloaf is outstanding. I’ve made it three times in the last month, LOL. Today I finally made the Chipotle Whiskey BBQ Sauce. It is the PERFECT accompaniment to the meatloaf – takes it to a whole new level. Thank you!

All these comments, and I don’t see my question. So…in the ingredient list it calls for 1 cup bbq sauce. In the directions I can only find it mentioned at the end, where it’s talking about 1/3 cup of it. Maybe I’m being too literal, but what happened to the rest of the sauce? I don’t see it being mentioned to mix it in, or top the loaf when you start. Making it now, so I guess the answer will be for the future…

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Looking for the best low carb recipes? You've come to the right place! I'm Carolyn, a major carnivore and an unrepentant sweet tooth. Here you will find all you need to enjoy the low carb keto lifestyle to the fullest! Read more